US opens clean energy centre in South Africa

20 March 2013, Johannesburg – The United States will on Wednesday, March 20, open the US-Africa Clean Energy Development and Finance Centre in the US Consulate General in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The move is part of efforts to mobilise funds in support of clean energy project development in Africa.

The centre involves the alignment of US trade and development finance agencies, including the US Trade and Development Agency, USTDA, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, OPIC, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States, EXIM Bank.

The initiative, initially backed by $20 million for clean energy project preparation assistance, will endeavor to unlock over $1 billion of US government, multilateral, regional and private financing and investment for innovative clean energy projects in Africa.

The African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD, the African Development Bank, AfDB, and the Development Bank of Southern Africa, DBSA, are partnering in opening the US-Africa Clean Energy and Development Finance Centre on Wednesday.

Other participants in the inaugural meeting will include leading private banks, private equity companies, consultancies, and South African national, provincial and local government officials.